Gatsby Icarus Theme Starter is a Gatsby v3 blog starter that recreates the Icarus theme from Hexo, letting you build a static blog like Kun's Blog from markdown content. It is open source, hosted on GitHub under the Kun8018/gatsby-starter-icarus-blog repository, and is designed to deploy to Netlify with one click.
What is Gatsby Icarus Theme Starter?
Gatsby Icarus Theme Starter is a Gatsby v3 starter that builds a static blog website with an Icarus-like theme (from Hexo) and markdown-based content management. It takes markdown files from the src/content directory as input and produces a fully functioning static blog with pagination, tags, and comments, ready to deploy to Netlify or GitHub Pages. The starter is maintained by Kun8018 and is available as an open-source GitHub repository.
Key Features
- Gatsby v3 engine — uses GatsbyJS v3 for faster builds, offline support via service workers, and a Web App Manifest for installability.
- Google Analytics — built-in integration; you add your tracking ID in the configuration file to start collecting site analytics.
- Gitalk comment component — comments are powered by Gitalk, a GitHub issue–based commenting system, configured with client ID, client secret, repository, and owner details.
- SEO and sitemap — includes search engine optimization and automatic sitemap generation for better indexing.
- Pagination and tags — posts are organized with page pagination and can be grouped under different tags.
- Responsive design — the layout is fully responsive and styled with SCSS, closely resembling the Icarus theme from Hexo.
- Markdown content authoring — write posts as Markdown in
src/content, or edit them through the built-in Netlify CMS support. - TypeScript support — the starter supports TypeScript for developers who prefer typed JavaScript.
Who is it for?
- Bloggers who want a modern Gatsby-based blog with a clean, card-style layout similar to Hexo's Icarus theme.
- Developers who want a ready-made starter with SEO, offline support, and comment integration so they can focus on writing content.
- Netlify users who want one-click deployment through the Netlify Deploy button, which automatically creates a GitHub repository and publishes the site.
- Hexo users looking to migrate to Gatsby while keeping an Icarus-like look and feel.
Use cases
- Personal blog: publish technical or personal articles as Markdown files and get a static site with tags, pagination, and analytics.
- Documentation or notes site: use the markdown pipeline and sitemap to create a lightweight documentation hub.
- Comment-enabled writing: enable Gitalk comments so readers can discuss posts via GitHub issues without building a custom backend.
How does it work?
- Click the "Deploy to Netlify" button, authenticate with GitHub, and choose a repository name — Netlify creates a copy of the starter, builds it, and deploys the site.
- To develop locally, install the Gatsby CLI, run
gatsby new new-blog https://github.com/Kun8018/gatsby-starter-icarus-blog, thennpm installandnpm startto launch a hot-reloading dev server athttp://localhost:8000. - Customize the blog by editing the config object in the
data/configfile — including blog title, meta description, theme color, favicon, social links, and the Gitalk plugin settings.
FAQ
Is Gatsby Icarus Theme Starter free to use?
Yes, the starter is open source and hosted on GitHub. The repository's license badge indicates it is released under an open-source license, so you can freely use, modify, and deploy it for your own blog.
How do I add comments to my blog posts?
Comments are powered by Gitalk. In the data/config file, you need to provide a clientID, clientSecret, and the GitHub repository details. Once configured, each post will load a comment component that uses GitHub issues as the backend.
Can I use this starter without Netlify?
Yes, you can deploy to GitHub Pages by running npm run deploy. The starter also supports other static hosting, but Netlify deployment is fully automated and recommended by the author.
What are the prerequisites for local development?
You need Git and Node.js version 12.0.0 or higher. The starter uses the Gatsby CLI for project creation and build commands.
